I would think EY would get to PER first, as they already have some service to Australia. However, QR must open a route to either PER, BNE or MEL before they are allowed into SYD, but I think Melbourne will get it.

But, you never know, QR might see PER as a good start as it is closer, or they might expand quicker than EY. Hopefully, PER will see both of these airlines in the near future.

Quoting CXfirst (Reply 2):But, you never know, QR might see PER as a good start as it is closer, or they might expand quicker than EY. Hopefully, PER will see both of these airlines in the near future.

Advantage of PER is that it doesn't require a long haul aircraft to serve the sector.
while the city is booking, i don't know if too much more capacity can be taken on in the short term for a city with a population of 1M.

I would also say EY will be first. QR will start MEL first with Summer 2009 schedule followed by SYD with winter schedule 2009. It is not official yet, but 90 % sure.regarding PER, i would think Adelaide will get service first, but you never know.

As 6thfreedom said, the advantage of PER is an A332 can fly DOH-PER. You'd need a 773 or something similar to reach ADL, and there's not enough demand to utilise a large plane like that when it could be used for something alot more profitable.

Quoting 6thfreedom (Reply 3):while the city is booking, i don't know if too much more capacity can be taken on in the short term for a city with a population of 1M.

PER is closer to 1.6M.

Funny, how the population of Perth is greater than the Population of Qatar and Abu Dhabi....yet, see how much the boom is effecting them! (I know, the boom in Perth cannot be compared, but it is still great enough to warrant EY and QR).

With the boom said to be over (thanks to a fall in demand for resources) there may not be any EY or QR service. But if things improve I beleive EY will beat QR to the punch because again they have already set up shop in Australia through their services to Sydney and Brisbane. But do either carrier have spare capacity to deploy, say a A332 to Perth

I often think who would be serving Perth next. Traffic is growing at a phenomal rate and its postion to the rest of the region would make it a very intresting market in the next decade. here is what I think would happen after EY or QR enter's Perth if things in the global economy improves

Lion Air would be a good candidate for a Perth service with their 737-900ERs. Actually I am surprised that they have not even started yet. Flights to Jarkarta, Surabya and Denpasar prehaps?

A Chinese carrier such as CA, CZ or MU or even QF/JQ to provide a flight between Shanghai and Perth would do well as there is much business between W.A and China particularly in resources and education.

Even a Perth India flight might do well from QF/JQ, AI or 9W as a A332 could easily make this flight and again business between India and W.A is growing plus think of the freight revenue which potentially could be earned.

There has been some talk that when the 787 eventually does get delivered some quite intresting and far out suggestions of possible flights to Perth such as VS flying London to Perth nonstop (will beleive it when it happens). As well as Kenya Airways deploying a service from Nairobi to Perth with their 787s (again will beleive it when I see it)

I think maybe a FJ flight with their 787s to Nadi might do well or it could go via BNE or ADL. A direct service would give West Australians another onestop choice to L.A. Haven't FJ been saying that they wanted to explore new markets and Fiji is becoming a popular market for West Australians now.

Back to the QR/EY debate one of them would have to enter the market before Emirates deploys their A380s to Perth as it would be hard to compete against them if QR/EY enetered the market after. So would that give us a 2 year window?

I totally agree with the above post. PER is definently underserved in some key markets and we definently need links to India, China & Vietnam and more links to Indonesia, Middle East, Far East and Africa.

My bet is that by the end of next year we'll have Lion announce services to DPS and CGK, a Chinese airline to PEK, PVG or CAN and possibly another African carrier or Indian airline.